The population of Cercal do Alentejo, in the municipality of Santiago do Cacém, has been without potable water at the taps since Friday, due to a fault, and is being supplied by tanker trucks from the firefighters, the parish council revealed.
The president of the Cercal do Alentejo Parish Council, Carlos Rodrigues, explained today to the Lusa agency that last Friday a “problem was detected in the pump of the Bica Santa borehole, which feeds the village”, located in the municipality of Santiago do Cacém, district of Setúbal.
That malfunction in the main water intake of the locality compromised public supply to around 1,500 inhabitants of the village, who, for six days, have been deprived of potable water.
After several attempts to solve the problem, the Águas Públicas do Alentejo (Agda) “began today to install a new pump” at the main water intake area, having removed the original defective pump and another that became stuck during installation,” described the parish official, anticipating the regularization of the supply by the end of the week.
In the coming days, he asserted, the company will “put the pump into operation, carry out some tests and analyses of the water to attest to its quality”.
“Everything indicates that, by the end of the week, the situation will be regularized,” he estimated.
According to the parish official, the constraints were minimized thanks to a “water intake line” from a “nearby well” of the main source—the Bica Santa— and using cisterns from the local firefighters.
Even so, until the supply is regularized, ingestion and cooking with this alternative water are not advised and its use is recommended only for bathing, washing clothes and dishes and other washing.
“As long as the analyses [carried out on the water] from this borehole, which is currently supplying the village, are not 100%, the Cercal firefighters guarantee potable water supply to the population, to the kindergarten’s canteen and to the day center of Casa do Povo,” added the parish council president.
Also according to Carlos Rodrigues, Agda is conducting a “feasibility study for the commissioning of a third” borehole, which “has no electrical and hydraulic supply,” with the aim of equipping the village with “three water intake points”.
“It is not acceptable to have an entire village ‘hanging’ by a single borehole. This is something that should have been foreseen well in advance, to ensure redundancy in a water intake,” he lamented.
